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Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 22, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- OAKLAND, CALIF.:
LONGSHORE WORKERS FLEX SOLIDARITY
MUSCLES
In Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 12, close to 1,000
members of
the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), their families and supporters held a militant union meeting in front of the Oakland Federal Building on the evening before negotiations were scheduled to resume with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The purpose of the rally was not only to show how
support
for this critical union struggle is growing, but also to send a clear message to the Bush administration to back off. Labor Department officials have threatened to bring in the National Guard to operate 29 West Coast ports if the union goes on strike. This protest made it clear that the ILWU was not
backing
down. Teamsters Local 70 President Chuck Mack asserted that Teamsters would not only honor ILWU picket lines, but would join them, too. Protests also took place that day in Portland,
Ore., and at
six other ports. --Bill Hackwell
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